Opus Bank to sell building but stay downtown

EVERETT -- Opus Bank is selling its downtown office building, the former headquarters of Cascade Bank, with plans to move into a smaller facility."We're absolutely committed to the Everett area," Opus CEO Stephen H. Gordon said in an interview Thursday.The 52,582-square-foot building on the northwest corner of Colby and Hewitt avenues, however, doesn't make sense when the bank has only 50 employees at that location, he said.The prominent downtown building served as the headquarters for the nearly 100-year-old Cascade Bank of Everett when it was sold in 2011 to Irvine, Calif.-based Opus. The location consists of two buildings joined by a central atrium. The asking price is $6.5 million, and the building is being listed through Jones Lang LaSalle's Bellevue office.Opus is seeking a smaller building in the downtown Everett area, Gordon said. The bank recently made a similar move to a smaller space in Bellevue."We want to properly size ourselves," he said.When Opus bought troubled Cascade Bank, Gordon pledged to "create a strong super-regional bank in the Western region." At that point Opus had five branches in Irvine, which were merging with Cascade's 22 branches in the Puget Sound region.Today, Opus has 52 locations in Washington and California. It has added locations in Kirkland and Gig Harbor and will open offices in Tacoma and Seattle in July and September, respectively."We keep growing and expanding," Gordon said.Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454; mdunlop@heraldnet.com.

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